Rare ‘bad omen’ fish washing ashore in California provides ‘amazing opportunity’

Scientists have been studying the dead 12-foot oarfish discovered by snorkelers and kayakers in La Jolla Cove off California earlier in August.

Locals who found the floating fish on Aug. 10 got help from researchers to bring it in to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility to be studied, McClatchy News Previously reported.

Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California State University Fullerton and NOAA then performed a necropsy, or an animal autopsy, according to Scripps.

“Rare encounters like this provide an amazing opportunity to learn more about this species and how it lives,” Ben Frable from Scripps said in an Aug. 22 news release from the institution.

Closer examination of the creature revealed that the fish was an adult male measuring 12.25 feet in length and weighing 74.3 pounds. Oarfish are deep-sea dwellers that grow to be up to 30 feet, Scripps said. They are the longest bony fish in the world.

Its cause of death still eludes experts, as does the reason the giant fish was in La Jolla Cove to begin with, especially as the species usually lives in much deeper waters.

Injury, illness and disorientation are the usual reasons fish might wash up in such good condition.

The scientists said La Jolla Cove is situated between two underwater canyons that funnel water from the much deeper ocean.

“This proximity may contribute to why disoriented or injured deep-sea fish, such as lancetfish and footballfish, occasionally wash up in the area,” Scripps said.

Oarfish, which were “described as sea serpents in history”, are rumored to be bad omens, said to appear prior to earthquakes and other disasters, according to Scripps. Scientists have debunked these superstitions.

Despite not yet having all the answers, a specimen in such good condition like this is good fortune for researchers like Frable and his colleagues.

“This oarfish presents a rare opportunity to obtain fresh samples for genomic analysis, allowing us to study the evolutionary adaptations that enable this species to thrive in deep-sea environments,” said Dahiana Arcila, another scientist with Scripps. “This finding also significantly contributes to documenting life on our planet.”

Access to this oarfish allows scientists to better understand deep-sea ecosystems.

This story was originally published August 26, 2024 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Rare ‘bad omen’ fish washing ashore in California provides ‘amazing opportunity’."